We have put together a newspaper to celebrate 15 years of Merchant & Mills, looking back over the years and reinventing our first sewing pattern. You can read the full newspaper here.

Join us for our 15th birthday at our shop in Rye for drinks and nibbles and to be in with the chance to win a golden ticket! All event details can be found here.

'Merchant & Mills was born with a mission to bring people to making, to sewing and everything that means. It’s making time to break away from the day to day. It’s making the choice to craft a bespoke alternative to the endless supply of fast fashion. It’s the feeling of wearing something made of natural cloth. It’s the feeling of wearing something that truly fits. It’s the joy of creating and showcasing those creations to the world.

15 years later I can barely believe all that we have achieved. We are still a small company of 34 wonderful and talented staff. We are constantly striving to be bold, innovative, and exciting. I want to thank all our customers new and old. Some that found us in a drafty house on the Welsh border and some that have only just picked up a pattern. You are what makes us thrive, you are what makes us do better, you are what pushes us to new horizons.

I hope to see many of you at our 15-year celebrations and for those of you who won’t be there you will be there in spirit.'

Carolyn Denham

Our Tower street shop then and now.

In the beginning there was Carolyn, Roderick and the dark and dusty shell of an old toy factory on Tower Street. Over the years a team grew inside the Tower Street shop, creating a business and a home for our ideas and collections before eventually spilling over into what is now our warehouse. The story of our business is also the story of our team. Those first pioneering members of staff are now our heads of department. Read interviews with our first members of staff in our newspaper here.

The Trapeze was the first Merchant & Mills pattern. It was designed for a new venture and a new customer base, some of whom were new to sewing or tentatively returning to the machine after decades. This first pattern was a pledge, a physical embodiment of the then-new Merchant & Mills mission statement: to challenge peoples’ perceptions of what it means to be a maker, to showcase a radical alternative to fast fashion and to encourage, grow and celebrate a new sewing community.

This first pattern had to be simple and easy to sew with no tricky detailing or fiddly fastenings. But also timeless, easy to make and easy to wear. A shape that would appeal to everyone from beginners to experienced dressmakers. Incredibly, The Trapeze remains one of our best-selling patterns today. A solid foundation supporting everything that’s grown around it, our collections, ideas and our wonderful sewing community. Over the years we’ve seen many variations to this pattern, made both by us and by you.

This year we are celebrating the ocean of options held within this simple silhouette with seven new additions to The Trapeze: A Sailor Collar, A Party Dress, A Peter Pan Collar, A Frill Sleeve, A Tiered Dress, A Frilled Hem and a Bias Cut. All seven are available to purchase as a bundle of additions for your Trapeze Pattern here.

The Trapeze - The Party Dress Hack

We’ve written a new pattern hack for The Trapeze, adding a full, double layered gathered skirt with a ribbon tie back. The result is playful and fun and the perfect canvas for a bright or embellished fabric. We chose our new Flame Tumbled Cotton Poplin (and the Alma cotton voile for lining). Because poplin is a tightly woven cloth and quite crispy it gives the dress a sculptural look. If you choose something softer like an Indian cotton it will have a softer silhouette. The second dress is made from our Libra Spot Indian Cotton.

We recommend using woven cottons (2-4.3oz) for this make, to achieve the crisp finish on the visible gather detail. Some suggestions would be: Tumbled cotton poplin, block print cotton, hemp/cotton blend, fine Indian hand weaves, Japanese cotton poplin and triple wash.

We bagged our bodice out with self fabric, but used a light cotton voile/muslin for the skirt lining.

Depending on the fabric you choose, there are two options for the skirt volume – gathered x 3 for finer cottons (up to 3oz) which gives a nice full skirt, or gathered x 2 for more sculptural cottons (up to 4.3oz) like our tumbled cotton poplin. Be aware that there is a lot of gathering to the skirt and if you choose a denser fabric then it will be harder to gather neatly which is why we have created the 2 x gather version.

You'll need the The Trapeze pattern and you can download the instructions here.